


The Drowning Deep

by Oblivion_Wanderer



Category: Destiny (Video Games)
Genre: F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Shadowkeep spoilers, ghost needs a hug, major spoilers for the last shadowkeep mission, seriously, that last mission was spooky btw
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-06
Updated: 2019-10-13
Packaged: 2020-11-26 08:08:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,803
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20926931
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oblivion_Wanderer/pseuds/Oblivion_Wanderer
Summary: Nelan knows where they must go, to that place deep in the moon, but she's got a bad feeling about this.Something is waiting for them there...(EDIT: Epilogue added 10/13)





	1. The Drowning Deep

**Author's Note:**

> First and foremost, this fic is one big spoiler for Shadowkeep and the last mission of the main campaign, Beyond. Shadowkeep has only been out for five days (as of the time of posting this), so yeah, big spoiler warning.
> 
> That said, I did throw in some extras of my own making, just because the cutscene at the end kinda ended abruptly and just teleported us back onto the moon again. Although I will admit it was a very spooky mission and I've been enjoying Shadowkeep a lot. 
> 
> Happy Halloween month I guess?? And remember- Moon's Haunted.

Nelan turned the cyrptoglyph over in her hands, running her fingers across the markings. Definitely a Hive artifact; an artifact she had gone spelunking for in the catacombs of the Hellmouth, at the request of Eris Morn. She had said it was of the upmost importance….

...Although it went about as well as the last time Nelan was asked to get something from the Hellmouth.

“Are we really going to use this to make more of the dreambane armor?” Ivo asked, floating at her side.

Bringing herself out of memories of when she had been ambushed by Taken while trying to get a crystal fragment of Crota, she turned her head to look at him.

“According to Eris, yes.” The Hunter set the cyrptoglyph back on the table. “We’re supposed to use this to purify essence from Nightmares and craft it into armor. This will allow us to get into the pyramid… so Eris says. Murph would love to examine this though; we’ll have to send him over some data.”

“He would. I could see him speculating about the runes and the purpose of the artifact.”

“I think we might need to call in some help from our crew for hunting the Nightmares. Let’s compile a list of Nightmare hotspots and-” She had started moving away from the table the cyrptograph sat on, but stumbled when she felt a sudden pain up her leg. Damn, it still hurt.

“Nelan?” Ivo flew in a concerned arc around her head. “Are you hurt?”

Nelan sighed and sat down on the lunar surface. In her haste to flee the catacombs of the Hellmouth, away from that pyramid, her foot had caught on something and she tripped. It almost allowed the Hive to catch her, but she managed to escape them after throwing down a grenade and scrambling to her feet. She didn’t really notice anything wrong until she got back to the Circle of Bones; the ache had been hidden under adrenaline.

“I think I did something to my leg while we were trying to get out of the Hellmouth.” She admitted. “It’s not too bad...”

“Let me see.” Her Ghost scanned over her legs. “Ah. Seems you only pulled a muscle. I’m sorry; I didn’t notice before.”

“It’s okay.” She smiled down at him as he worked on healing her. “You worry too much.”

“Only because you’re my Guardian.”

Ivo’s voice sounded a little worn toward the end of that sentence, and Nelan’s smile faded. He still didn’t sound good.

“Ivo, I’ve been meaning to ask...” She started once he had finished healing her. “Are you okay?”

“I… feel fine.”

“Back there though...” She trailed off, recalling walking across the bridge into where the cryptoglyph was being kept. They had been much closer to the pyramid then; towering above them both with a multitude of phantoms. Eris had pushed them to continue on, saying it was nothing but a distraction, but Nelan had listened as Ivo’s voice got weaker and weaker. It was like something was draining away his strength or he was trying to keep something at bay. Or both. This wasn’t the first time ether; when they first discovered the pyramid, even from that distance it had affected him.

Ivo had said something was tampering with his Light, and Nelan would admit she had gotten a strange feeling the past couple times they’ve been within sight of the pyramid. Something about the atmosphere around the pyramid was oppressive; like a sort of pressure on her being and her own Light. However, she knew that Ivo was more attuned to the Light than she was, being something directly created from the Traveler. Whatever that feeling was she got from the pyramid must be much worse for her companion.

“Oh. Right. That.” The back points of Ivo’s shell twitched and he looked out across the moon landscape, and then back to her before continuing. “Something about that pyramid- it’s not so much of a physical feeling like when Andrix played havoc with my internal systems, but this reaches deeper. It’s similar to when we lost the Light, but it’s more like… some kind of creeping sickness; like I’ve been poisoned. It’s a terrible white noise in my brain. I’m not sure what it is, but I just know it has to do with that pyramid.”

Nelan felt uneasy hearing this. In their time together, Ivo had been subjected to his fair share of bad luck. Falling off an airship after losing the Light, getting briefly possessed by a calling card from Rasputin, and not to mention that time Sagira accidentally hijacked him (he still wasn’t over that one). Later on he’d also been subject to a hack by Andrix Vil, a specter from Nelan’s past life.

The unease must have shown on her face, because he then quickly said. “But don’t worry! I-I’m fine now.”

He was not fine and Nelan knew it.

“We have to hunt the Nightmares, make the armor, but...” She reached a hand out and caressed his shell. “You don’t have to come with me to the pyramid.”

“What?!” The Ghost exclaimed. “Nelan, that’s ridiculous. You can’t go alone!”

“Both times we’ve been even within view of it, it’s affected you badly. I don’t want you to suffer just because you have to follow me around.” Nelan insisted.

“I follow because I always will- because you’re my Guardian. Because I love you!” He sighed, flying close to her face. “Look, Eris is right. The pyramid is connected to the Collapse. We know there’s been a chain reaction of events ever since the Traveler’s reawakening. Mercury, Mars, Europa. Maybe… it woke this up too. While I don’t think it’s the best idea, we have to go back to the pyramid. If this is a fragment of greater threat, we need to know.”

“I understand that, but… but each time we’ve been there- it’s doing something to you. You sounded sick back in the catacombs.”

“Yes, it is affecting me. Yes, it is… not pleasant, but, I can’t just let you go in there on your own. It is an unknown; nether of us knows what it holds or why it’s here. I will not let you travel into darkness alone, and it’s better than letting you possibly walk into death, knowing I let you. No matter what happens, I know I’ll be okay, because I’m with you.”

Nelan wrung her hands together nervously. She didn’t want to see Ivo in pain, especially if this pyramid was having that much of an effect. He was created from Light; she was just a reanimated corpse that he shared that Light with. He felt this fluctuation of his Light in such a greater quantity than she did. Even back in the Red War the loss of Light had hit him much harder than it had for her.

In there here and now, once the armor was made, they would have to go inside the pyramid. Who knows how much worse it would be for Ivo then.

But Nelan knew. She knew Ivo would not stand by quietly; he would go with her, always. He’d shown that when he searched for her after the City fell, when he insisted on accompanying her when she went after Andrix, when she was overcome by a fever after Cayde died (induced by a sudden evolution of her Light and her own grief) and he watched over her

When she had nearly died permanently on Europa and he refused to leave her; trying to warm her with his Light when she was so cold.

He truly did love her.

“Alright.” Nelan finally said, giving a slow nod. “Then we go together.”

“Like always.”

“Yeah.” She then reached out again to him but this time coaxed him to come closer. When he was close enough she leaned over and kissed his shell. “And… I love you too.”

“I know. It’s okay; we’ll do this together.”

He said that, and yet that didn’t make her feel relived…

* * *

After calling in a couple friends to help with hunting the nightmares, Nelan was able to cleanse each respective essence and forge more armor.

Murph, and Valis came out to help with the Nightmare hunting. Lucy and Ison couldn’t make it because they were dealing with a surge in Vex activity in on Io, with Tyrell as their scout.

Nelan and her friends managed though, despite what the Nightmares threw at them. Murph ran into a Nightmare of two Wizards who he suffered a near-death experience at the hands of. That was then followed up by Valis nearly going catatonic when a Nightmare assembled itself into an old enemy he had history with on Europa. Nelan herself faced down a startling Nightmare in the form initially of Andrix before morphing into the Nexus Zero she had stuck down during the raid on Europa.

But those were other stories; the pyramid was of greater concern.

Murph and Valis both asked about the pyramid, knowing she was going to go inside. Nelan told them all she knew, but cautioned against going to see it, and even if they did to stay at a very far distance. She pointed out there was a place they could get to, if they so wished, through a portal that would allow safe observation. They didn’t argue, or ask why, but when the time came for her to head off to the obsidian object, they told her they’d be at base waiting… and to come back safe.

(Murph also wanted to study the cryptoglyph, to which Valis found cute. Eris merely eyed him cautiously)

After a brief drive across through Archer’s Line and the Hellmouth, Nelan arrived in Sorrows Harbor, tracing her way back to the Scarlet Keep. Once inside the Keep she quickly found her way down to the caves she had first wandered through to get to what she dubbed as “the chasm”.

The first time she saw that pyramid had been the most jarring. She had rounded the corner to find that obsidian shape sitting out in the open, and in the moment she had seen it, the air around her seemed to grow heavy with Darkness. She had never seen one of these massive objects in her life (or this life, rather), but it looked familiar to shapes she had seen in a half-remembered dream once upon a Red War.

And this thing, it was the driving force behind these Nightmares. How the Hive tied in, she wasn’t entirely sure. Maybe Ivo was right and it became active when the Traveler awoke once more, and let loose the Nightmares two years later. In that time, maybe the Hive had found this object and decided to take advantage of this for themselves. Perhaps the Scarlet Keep was like a shrine to it that the Hive had built. That was more Murph’s area of expertise, but she could always ask Eris about it.

Nelan made her way through the caves, lit in the green glow of the Hive. Each step she took along the familiar path made her more and more nervous. What would she find down there in the pyramid? Were more Nightmares waiting for her down there?

What if something else was waiting there instead?

Soon enough, she found the exit to the caves, letting out to the sight of phantom figures floating above a ledge a great distance above her.

This was the place.

“I-It’s happening again...”

Nelan snapped her head toward Ivo, who was wavering in his levitation beside her. They hadn’t even rounded the corner yet, but it was apparent he’d gotten worse. The only other time she had heard his voice this bad was when the City fell, and when Andrix had hacked him. Nelan was concerned about the pyramid affecting Ivo, but he said it shouldn’t get too bad until they got much closer, like when they were getting the cryptoglyph. Hearing his voice now made it seem like he was further deteriorating.

“Ivo.” She tried, one hand already reaching out to catch him if he passed out. “Ivo, talk to me. What’s wrong? Is it the pyramid?”

“Yes.” There was a clear strain in his voice. “There’s something- like it’s reaching inside me.”

A chill ran down her spine at this vague response. This time she did touch her fingers to his shell, gently nudging him closer to her. Nelan glanced up at the phantom figures, then back to her dear Ghost. “Stay close to me; focus on my Light.”

Ivo tilted his shell against her hand, eye closing, as if her touch made things better. “Your Light… So warm...” She felt a brief resonance there as he muttered this, but there was something off. Quietly, he moved closer to her, hovering just above her shoulder. “I’m sorry; keep going. We… we have to find out.”

Though the Hunter was very worried for him, she nodded and continued forward, coming around the corner to the overlook of the chasm… and the pyramid.

Nelan flinched, starting to feel the effects of being within the vicinity of this object now herself. It was a tight feeling in her chest that pierced right down to her Light. Beside her, Ivo was uncharacteristically quiet. Not that she blamed him, based on the description of what he felt in the presence of this thing.

She dropped down to another ledge, assuming this was the actual path downward, and followed the path to the overlook where she had encountered what she now knew as the Nightmare of Crota. It was empty now; no mysterious glowing orbs. It was just an open space looking out over to the pyramid. She wandered out onto the ledge, her gaze to the pyramid.

Something… there was something that-

“Nelan, w-wait.”

Nelan looked to her Ghost, who had stopped a couple feet back.

“I need… I-I need to rest.” He croaked as Nelan rushed back to him. “I don’t feel well...”

This time she gently cupped her hands around his shell and pulled him close. He looked about ready to fall out of the air. “Shh, I’ve got you.”

He didn’t respond, save for a tired sigh, and she gently ran her fingers across the top of his shell. Whatever this pyramid was doing to him was making him worse. Still, he insisted she continue forward. Nelan didn’t like it, but the sooner they found out what was in there, the sooner they could leave. She could try to sustain him with her Light in the meantime; she’d done it before during the Andrix incident. Though it was hard to concentrate in the presence of the pyramid.

She crossed the overlook and winced as she felt that tight feeling in her chest again. He air grew hazy around her for a moment as she neared the edge, and she stopped to take a stabilizing breath. She looked down as she did and found another path; a series of ledges going downward. Holding Ivo closer to her, she stepped down onto the next ledge, and the next. The Hunter looked out again at the pyramid they were getting closer too. She could start to make out textures on its metal surface that she had been unable to see before.

It was almost beautiful, in a way, elegant even. But she remembered what Eris had told her, and that unease came over her again. Something in her was telling her that she and Ivo shouldn’t be here.

They shouldn’t be here; this place was wrong.

“The pyramid… is waiting. It beckons us to come closer. Don’t you feel it?” Ivo suddenly said, his weakened voice sounding dull with exhaustion.

Nelan did feel something pulling at her; at her Light. It wanted to draw her in. She could feel that much now that she was closer. It’s like a siren song from the deep.

And yet in spite of this… she keeps walking; as if being tugged gently along by an unseen thread. She wants to know, but she knows it’s trying to draw her in. She wants to know why, but it’s hurting her Ghost.

It’s a schism of her Light and the aura of the pyramid.

The path eventually stops and so does she. Ivo has not said anything further and she wants to check on him to make sure he’s okay, but she does not speak. She finds herself frozen, staring at the pyramid.

Suddenly, there’s a crackling noise, and Nelan looks down at her feet just in time to see the ledge fall apart under her.

She doesn’t remember if she screams, but she remembers the brief rush of air. Falling…

And then it stops.

It occurs to her in the silence of the chasm that she is not falling to her death, but rather suspended in air. Breaths shaky, she sees shimmers in the chasm, a dark borealis, and then spots something else.

A bright light from the pyramid.

Then there’s a pull, on both her Light and body, and she is being pulled in through the air toward the light on the pyramid. The air shimmers around her.

‘_Tractor beam?’_ She thinks. Whatever caught her in her fall, tractor beam or otherwise, is pulling her closer and closer to the pyramid’s light; stark against it’s obsidian sides.

“Violence. Beauty. Truth.” Ivo’s voice says to her from somewhere in this madness. And his voice sounds wrong. She doesn’t know where he is, but she hears him. He sounds near, so perhaps he dematerialized when the ledge gave way. “These things await inside.”

Nelan wants to question what, but she already knows.

The pyramid.

“There’s no turning back now.”

The pyramid comes up on her fast, but what she thought was a light she was being pulled toward is not a light. It is an entrance; a tunnel almost. Dull red lights reflect of the polished black surfaces of the walls, and the air still shimmers.

And Nelan is scared.

Eventually, whatever unseen force pulled her in here deposits her onto the floor of a large room. It’s not a smooth landing ether, so she ends up in a crumpled heap on said floor for a minute. There is silence except for her breathing. The surface is cold beneath her, like the ice of Europa.

No… this cold is deeper than that.

Nelan forced herself off the floor; getting up onto her knees and then moving to stand on her feet. She still has all her weapons with her. She’s still in one piece. She’s still alive and breathing. The other side to this is that she is in a completely unknown area, although she is certain she is inside the pyramid now. She’s alone, possibly trapped, and….

...and where’s Ivo?

Her Ghost nowhere to be seen, Nelan’s hand goes to her sidearm, feeling scared and now paranoid in this place. She hears a noise in the dark, and she spins around to try and located the source. It was almost staticy.

“I-Ivo…?” Her voice comes out in a whisper. The noise comes again; closer, and behind her. Slowly, she turns, and to her surprise, she finds Ivo floating there. She smiles, puts away her sidearm, and relaxes for a second, her lips parting to say his name, but she stops.

His eye is a dull red, like these lights.

“Welcome, Nelan.” Ivo’s voice drones, but darker; more sinister, distorted. This is not Ivo. “We’ve been waiting.”

Nelan stares at her Ghost, wide-eyed. “Wha… Who- Who are you?! What have you-”

Ivo drifts away from her before she can finish; off toward the other side of the area.

“Wait!”

She goes down a path bathed in red lights, painting her in its glow as well as she tries to keep up with Ivo. Something has a hold of him and she’s unsure of what that something is. As she follows, being led down largely featureless corridors, she thinks back to something he said when they first found the pyramid

> “_I feel strange. Like someone- or something- is invading my Light.”_

Nelan thinks she understands now, that maybe that was the point. Each time they came within the vicinity of the pyramid, something in here recognized what they were and chipped away at Ivo’s strength, for this purpose. But why Ivo and not herself? Or was it just easier to target Ivo?

“You’re so close now.” She hears him speak again. He’s stopped at the end of the black corridor. “Just a little further.”

“Ivo-”

The second she calls out his name, that she is near, he floats away again around the corner. Nelan rounds the corner, but then freezes.

There’s a blood-red ghost of Ghaul in front of her.

Slowly, Nelan removes her sidearm once again from its holster. She had no reason to be afraid, Ghaul was dead. She’d been there, she fought him. She’d been there and saw when the Traveler destroyed him in a flash of Light. He was certainly dead, and yet seeing this puts her on edge, remembering the Nightmare of Crota, and the other Nightmares that followed.

“Just a distraction.” Nelan muttered, echoing the words of Eris and Ivo when they were in the catacombs.

She crept closer to the figure, watching for movement. As she did, the shimmers in the air grew brighter until they clouded her vision. There was a flash-

And she’s back on the airship, Ghaul in front of her.

Startled, she gasps and dodges back. How is she here again? This can’t be real!

Some Red Legion start to come after her and Ghual is taking aim at her, so she’s forced to take cover and fight. Dream, nightmare, vision, whatever. There’s no choice now. She has to fight and stay alive. She beat Ghaul once (though that lead to his brief ascension and soon after destruction by the Traveler) and she could do it again. She’s faced worse terrors.

Nelan fights, fends of the attacks, stays alive. This past version of Ghaul is just as fierce, but she knows this fight; she’s lived it. She feels her Light intensify in her, and she gets ready to summon her Golden Gun-

Another flash. She’s back in the hallway, no ghost of Ghaul to be found. Nelan blinks, confused, but then relaxes with realization.

That Ghaul was just another Nightmare. The fight, while it felt real, was a hallucination. Eris had warned her the pyramid may try and trick her...

“The Red War saw so many lives lost.” Ivo’s voice, or the thing using his voice, spoke again from somewhere. “Saw the Light taken away so easily. In Light, there is only weakness.”

She bristled at these words. She wanted to yell something back to the silence, that it was because they had grown to sure of themselves and they had since learned that lesson. But she stayed quiet. She had to keep moving; find Ivo and figure out what the hell was going on and what this place was that she may be very well trapped in.

Whatever was controlling Ivo, whatever force it was, sent two more Nightmares after Nelan. The first was the Fanatic; leader of the Barons that she had fought on the Tangled Shore. She remembered this too, and she reminded herself that this was just a trick. She played along in order to break the illusion, fighting back against this vision. She made it a point to stay alive though, as something told her that if she died here, she died in real life. She wasn’t up for testing out that theory ether, not when Ivo probably couldn’t revive her in a possessed state.

She broke the illusion eventually, and the voice spoke again.

“The Light abandoned Cayde; your mentor. Left him for dead. In Light, there is only failure.”

That was a low blow; a stab at her heart. Cayde had died a little over a year ago, and she had been there. She had to watch him die; helpless to do anything. Her hands curled into fists, but she bit down the fury and tears that threatened to rise.

The second and last Nightmare was one she was unfamiliar with, but she recognized the form. It was Crota, with phantoms of dead Guardian’s surrounding him.

She was pulled into the illusion, and into a place she did not know. She knew she was going to have to fight, but she did not know how outside of the first encounter with the Nightmare on the overlook.

A Knight with a sword appeared before she could formulate a plan, and she made quick work of it, partially due to the panic that she now felt. Once she killed it, the Knight dropped the sword; glowing green with Hive energy.

She looked at it, and suddenly she knew what to do.

While Nelan herself had not gone on the raid mission to kill Crota the first time, she knew someone that did. Valis. The Warlock had told her the story of their mission once, how he and his team went to the very depths of the Hellmouth and crossed into another world to end Crota for good. He told her how in the final fight, they could only damage him with a specific sword. Valis had discovered it on an impulsive whim, which lead to victory.

Nelan understood; that’s what she needed to do.

Picking up the sword, she charged at Crota; jumping over any Hive creature that tried to run in front of her. When she reached Crota, he went to swing his own sword at her, but she beat him to it. One hit and it forced him to kneel. Two, three, four, five- Nelan kept going as long as he was kneeled.

And then Crota exploded into red smoke and mist. Nelan stood and dropped the sword. It was done.

A moment later she was back in reality.

“One by one, Crota slaughtered many Guardians. The Light stood by, and did nothing. And a great disaster ensued. In Light, there is only death.”

She knew of the Great Disaster, and she wondered if the phantoms she kept seeing were those lost in that battle. Ivo had said in the catacombs that the ghostly figures around them were the faceless forms of dead Guardians. But from what she understood, she believed it was a miscalculation and an underestimation of Crota’s power at the time.

But why bring that up? She wasn’t personally connected to that event, nor the illusion she just witnessed. Maybe to prove a point; a point of doubt.

Nelan continued on, coming to a large staircase. She could see more phantoms of dead Guardians waiting for her ahead. She hesitated; she felt cold.

“Come to us; do not be afraid.” Ivo’s voice came back to her once more. It was beckoning her. “Respite lies ahead.”

She didn’t trust in this one bit, but she did start the ascension up the stairs. The phantoms moved out of her way and stood to the side with each step she took, watching her. Her footsteps echoed around her in the silence.

After several steps, she passed through an entryway and into a large room. The steps continued, phantoms floating all around the area, and at the top of these steps Nelan saw a statue. It was what appeared to be a woman covered in some sort of cloak, towering above Nelan, who suddenly felt so small in its presence.

‘_Another shrine?’_ Nelan wondered, stopping to ponder this.

There was a noise, and an object coming down from the ceiling caught her eye. There was an orb, glowing orange with a strange energy. It descended and stopped at the base of the statue. Was this what she was looking for?

Nelan went up the rest of the steps and approached the orb. It glowed and hummed, strange energy swirled beneath its surface, and… and it whispered? She could hear whispers now, possibly coming from that orb. Against better judgment, she reached out to examine the orb.

The moment her hand touched it though… a rush of chill went through her and everything went black.

She was in void. Pure dark void. She thought for a moment she was dead, that the orb had killed her. Then there was a shimmer in the dark, and the dark gave way to color, someplace new.

Or rather, it wasn’t new. Nelan saw the red flowers at her feet and realized with dread where she was.

“The Black Garden.” She muttered. She looked up and there it was; the familiar mountain off in the distance she had seen only once before. “Okay… Okay… breathe...”

She took stock of her immediate surroundings. Red flowers, weird square mountain. She appeared to be on a cliff, the edge of a plateau maybe. She plucked a flower from the ground, examining it and twirling the stem of it in her hands.

“You made it.” A voice said from behind her.

It was her own voice.

Nelan turned and, aside from the obvious multitude of pyramids in the sky, saw a figure in the field with her. It was wearing the exact same armor set as she was, and had her hair and tattoos and-

No, it was herself.

Or, no, maybe…

“We have heard your cries for help,” This figure wearing her face spoke. “And soon, we will answer.”

Nelan’s had a vision where she’s seen herself before. When Andrix revealed her past to her, she had a brief vision of herself from her previous life, dressed all in the clothes she had been wearing when she crashed in Russia. That was her remembering and reckoning with a past she now had imprinted in her head. Then there was Europa. At Site 47 she had almost died, permanently, but in her unconscious state, she had experienced another vision where she had seen herself; that same set of clothes, but a form scarred with the Replication that took down the Marius Colony.

She couldn’t tell if now was a vision or a dream, but this was not like the visions where she had seen herself. This was different. Whatever this person in front of her was, it was more like they were mirroring her.

Nelan finally was able to get her voice to work and asked, “Who are you?”

The figure wearing her face only continued to smile. “Don’t you recognize us?” When Nelan didn’t respond, the figure moved ever closer to her. She took a step back, but remembered she was at the edge of a plateau. There was nowhere to go. “We are not your friend. We are not your enemy.”

The figure stood before her now, a sinister looking grin settled onto their face.

“We are your salvation.”

Salvation.

There was something about how the figure said that word that made Nelan’s heart race. “What do you mean? What is “salvation”?”

The grin remained on the figure’s face, and then tilted their head down, their eyes looking at something. Just then, Nelan felt a stinging sensation in the hand that was holding the flower she had picked. She brought her hand up and saw that there was a slight tear in her glove; blood starting to seep through her hand.

‘_Did the flower do that?’ _She wondered. There were no thorns, and even then it shouldn’t cut through her glove.

She wanted to ask the figure, this mirror, but when she looked back up, she suddenly got light-headed. She felt weak and dizzy. She dropped the flower, and at the same time the figure grabbed her. They stared down at her, lowering her to the ground as Nelan no longer had the strength to stand. The flower had done something to her, that much was clear, and now the same flowers surrounded her where she lay, and there were pyramids in the hazy sky above her.

“Hush.” The figure whispered, trailing a hand down the side of Nelan’s face. “You will know soon. The truth is out there.”

The icy gaze of the mirrored version of herself watched her as it all faded to black once more.

* * *

The ground beneath the Hunter felt more like dirt than that smooth metallic. She could taste the dirt in her mouth as she slowly regained consciousness. She opens her eyes and finds the world tilted. Of course then it occurs to her she’s actually lying on the ground.

The second thing she sees is the orb from the pyramid. It was no longer glowing or humming or whispering. It sat silent. Nelan manages to sit up, her body aching. She feels slightly sick as she looks at the orb and remembers the vision it gave her. She remembered the mirrored version of herself and the pyramids in the Black Garden. The flower that cut her hand and somehow immobilized her.

She looks around now and sees that she is no longer in the pyramid. She is back on the overlook, the pyramid in the chasm off in the distance.

‘_How did I get back here?’ _Nelan questions. The brief thought crosses her mind that maybe it was another illusion. But then… how did she have the orb from the pyramid in that case? All of that had definitely happened. She had been in that pyramid, traversed the dark halls. Everything about that experience had happened.

> _ “The truth is out there.”_

She remembers those words. What truth…?

Nelan turns her eyes away from the pyramid and back to the orb, but then sees something else.

Nearby the orb lays her Ghost.

“Ivo!” She exclaims, her voice strained now as she scrambled over to him, the orb forgotten. She had forgotten all about him when that vision put her in the Black Garden. “Ivo, can you hear me?”

She reaches out to him, touches her fingers to his shell but pulls then back just as quick. His eye was dim, no light. She feels a wave of despair crash over her. She knew the pyramid was severely messing with him, and she let him come with only because he insisted on not letting her go alone. Once they were in the pyramid it was clear something had seized control of him. What if whatever that was had been too much for Ivo in that state? What if it had killed him?

She touches his shell again, letting her fingers stay there. “Ivo, come on. Don’t...”

There’s a quiet sound of static, and then his eye flickers to life.

“G-Guardian?”

Relieved, Nelan picks him up and holds him to her chest. “You’re alright! Thank the Traveler. I-I thought...”

“Ah. Nelan...” He sighs, tired sounding still. His voice sounds better though, not as sickly and droning as before. “I’m okay. It’s okay. I _really_ wish that would stop happening.”

She looks down at him. “...You remember what happened?”

It takes a moment, but he’s able to start levitating off her hands; looking up to meet her gaze. “If you mean the whole ‘getting possessed again’ thing, then yes. Or part of it at least. Last thing I remember was the overlook; you holding me close. I remember this… feeling of something clawing at my Light, pulling me down into darkness. I heard myself speaking things I didn’t mean to, but by the time I realized what was happening, it went dark. I felt too weak to fight it off. I don’t remember anything after that. What did happen exactly?”

Nelan glances back to the pyramid and then to Ivo. “We were in the pyramid.”

“Did you find a way in?”

“Not exactly. Something from the pyramid pulled me into it; a tractor beam possibly. It was dark in there; everything a cold metallic. Some of the phantoms were in there, Nightmares too. There was this huge statue of a woman and this weird orb, and...” She paused, not sure how to approach the subject of the vision. “Strange things happened in there.”

“Hm. Let me see if I have anything. I may not remember it directly, but I can see if I indirectly do.” Ivo said. Nelan knew what he meant. When Sagira had been accidentally been transmuted into Ivo, assuming control of him for a time, he didn’t remember any of it. Of course, indirectly, he did contain the memories, which was how he found out about Sagira. “Okay, I do have something in my memory core. I’m seeing the inside of the pyramid- what a gloomy place. Anyway, I have images from inside, up until- wait, an orb?”

“Oh! That’s right! This thing-” Nelan pulled the orb over to her for Ivo to see. “At the statue, there was this orb. I’m not sure what it’s for or why it was left for me. I’m not even sure why it’s back with us, since the last thing I recall of being in the pyramid was the orb. I reached out to touch it and...”

“Nelan?”

“….To put it plainly, I had a vision. I was in the Black Garden, and there were more of these pyramids.”

“The Black Garden?” Ivo repeated. “We haven’t been there in years.”

“I know. That’s not even the weirdest part. There was this person, a mirror of myself. They spoke of “salvation”, whatever that’s supposed to mean.”

“Weird. Whatever this vision is supposed to mean though, you saw it for a reason, like the vision you had of the Gelida, and we’ll figure it out together.”

Nelan gave a small smile. “I’m sorry I got you possessed, again. How are you feeling?”

“Still a bit off, but better. And apology accepted; I know you didn’t mean for that to happen. Although… I’d kind of like to get out of here. Being in the vicinity of the pyramid- everything about this place feels wrong.”

“Yeah, I think I’ve seen enough for now.” Nelan agreed, taking the orb and rising to her feet. “I think we have bigger mysteries and problems to worry about.”

They left the pyramid behind in the chasm, making their way back to the caves where they had come in. Still, Nelan couldn’t shake the memory of the vision; the pyramids, the flower that cut her hand, the grin of that figure wearing her face. And just what did this orb and the Black Garden have to do with it at all?

And the parting words of her mirror self linger as well.

> _ “The truth is out there.”_


	2. Epilogue: Hereafter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The events of what took place at the site of the pyramid still haunt Ivo, eventually catching the attention of his Guardian.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look... I had to because I want my Ghost's thoughts and feelings on what happened and we never got that in game, so yeah. (let us hug our Ghost, Bungie)
> 
> Ghost needs a hug, man.
> 
> (Again, major Shadowkeep spoilers for the last mission in the main campaign)

Their shelter was not a perfect one, but it was a suitable enough place to rest and recover while they were still here. The Sanctuary was set up as a safe home base for the Guardians that came out here, so at least they were safe here.

Safe and… far away from certain things.

Ivo looked up at the stars that glimmered in the void, visible through the broken ceiling of their shelter, and then back to Nelan, asleep on a makeshift cot. Often she slept in her ship, but she said she wanted to sleep under starlight this time. He figured it must be an Awoken thing. Although she was tired; whatever happened in the pyramid took more out of her than she let on.

Ivo may have the images in his memory core, but he still wasn’t sure about what she had experienced in those dark hallways. He chalked her sudden exhaustion after they left to the vision she had seen. The last time she had that happen to her was after her near death experience on Europa. When she woke back on Earth she was still too weak to get up, even as she babbled on about how she had a vision of the Gelida. Once Nelan had left the orb from the pyramid with Eris and informed Murph and Valis of what happened (purposely leaving out the part about her vision), Ivo actually insisted she rest. She agreed with no protest.

His Guardian- his beautiful, brave Guardian- looked to be fast asleep now; her cloak, the one she usually wore, pillowed up under her head and blanket from her ship covering her body. Hopefully it was keeping her warm. The stardust under her skin flowed slow and calm like a stream.

Ivo, on the other hand, was not able to find sleep. He wanted to lie down next to her, keep her company and share in the warmth and comfort of her Light, but he found himself unable to. He’d watched her for a bit until he was sure she was asleep, went to tell Rheya and Willow (the Ghosts of Murph and Valis) about the pyramid, and then went back to Nelan. Yet he was still restless, and it wasn’t just because he didn’t really need to sleep. It was due to something else.

That something else involving a certain pyramid under the lunar surface.

Something had happened to him when they had gone back, he knew that much.

From when they first found the pyramid, Ivo knew it was having an affect on him. It hadn’t been much at first; a shudder in his systems that resonated down through his Light. It made him feel strange, but he wondered if it was just the atmosphere of the chasm and the sight of that giant singular object getting to him. He had wondered if he had just imagined what he had felt in that moment. The feeling still lingered though, even after Eris helped them get away from the Nightmares. He didn’t say anything to Nelan; he thought nothing much of it and assumed it would fade.

It wasn’t until they went down into the catacombs of the Hellmouth- came out of that cave and saw the pyramid towering over them- that Ivo realized something was very wrong. A second occurrence of what he felt before, much stronger that time, was not a coincidence. And by the time they had fled the Hellmouth, cryptoglyph with them, his voice had worn thin and shaky and he felt so very tired. He’d been so out of it he hadn’t noticed that Nelan had pulled a muscle in her leg during their escape from the catacombs.

Of course Nelan had noticed there was something going on with him, and she asked if he was okay. Ivo knew better; he knew he wasn’t. He did admit that something about the pyramid was having an adverse effect on him, but he still tried to brush it off. Deep down though, he was worried and scared; he didn’t know what the pyramid was doing to him, or if it was affecting his Guardian in a similar way. It was all too similar to when he and Nelan lost the Light, or when Andrix Vil severely damaged his systems in an effort to get Nelan’s attention.

But then Nelan suggested she go alone to the pyramid, and…

...well, Ivo wasn’t going to stand by and let her walk into that looming unknown by herself, was he? He was not going to let her go without him, despite his own concerns about the pyramid.

He and Nelan returned to the pyramid to try and find a way in, and he assumed he’d be able to manage for at least the initial descent. Ivo’s memories of what happened then are bits and pieces, but he remembers it got bad when they arrived at the site.

A shiver runs through Ivo, remembering this (rather, what he did remember). While this was not the first time this sort of thing had happened to him, it was unsettling all the same. This wasn’t accidental like with what happened to him and Sagira; there was a purpose behind what had happened in this instance. He’d be lying if he said he wasn’t shaken up over it still. He’d confessed this to Valis (who had a similar experience a year and a half ago), and they talked for a bit, though the Warlock suggested Ivo speak to Nelan about what had happened.

Speaking of...

Ivo looked back to Nelan, still asleep, and decided to settle down next to her. She looked to be at peace, but he looked away from her, lost in this own thoughts. He knew back at the pyramid he had frightened her. Panic was written across her face when he had woken up on the overlook; his mind, body, and Light his own again. He couldn’t blame her for her reaction. He knew something had taken control of him, and he thinks he knows what that something was.

The Darkness.

“Ivo…?” A half asleep voice calls.

The Ghost looks back to Nelan, her ice-blue eyes half open. “Oh, uh… hey. I didn’t notice you were awake.”

She moves to prop herself up on her elbows and look down at him. “You okay?”

“Yeah, I’m- I’ve just got some things on my mind. Have you been sleeping okay?”

She shrugged. “As well as I can be after that vision.”

“Good. That’s good...”

“Ivo… what’s wrong? Do you still feel sick?”

“No, no; it’s not that.” He quickly flew up to meet her eyes. “It’s fine. I’m fine. Everything’s fine. I’m not-” He stopped. He knew he was only lying to himself. “I… I don’t know.”

Silence lapsed between them. If Nelan was waiting for him to speak, he didn’t know what to tell her. He didn’t even know where to start.

Eventually, Ivo felt a hand settle upon his shell. The eyes of his Guardian reflected quiet concern.

“Is this about what happened at the pyramid?” Nelan asked, her voice gentle.

“...yes.”

“Do you wanna talk about it?”

The Ghost gave a hollow laugh. “Where do I even start? Knowing something was wrong or feeling like I was dead, again?”

Her expression slipped further into worry, but her hand stayed. It was nice; it was warm. “Wherever you feel is best and what you feel comfortable talking about.”

He closed his eye, trying to compile his thoughts. He felt Nelan’s concern through their bond- she had a kind heart. It was just one of the reasons he loved her. There were so many things he loved about her. And if there was anyone he felt comfortable talking about this whole experience with, it was her; his Guardian. Valis had suggested this, but Ivo was just unsure of how to go about it.

Opening his eye, he moved closer to her. “I didn’t think anything of it at first, when we found the pyramid. It wasn’t until we went to get the cryptoglyph that I realized that something was wrong; that the pyramid was affecting me. But even then, it didn’t click as to what exactly was happening until they already had hold. Then you had to hang around with the spooky possessed version of me.”

“He wasn’t as fun as you, if that helps.” Nelan tried in what was probably an attempt to lighten the mood.

“It still bothers me how easily they were able to take control. Something like that shouldn’t have been possible.”

“I think repeated visits to the site weakened your defenses. It’s like when we were without Light during the Red War and I got sick. My own body was weakened from the attack and exposure to the elements, which allowed sickness to take root in me easier. I think the pyramid had a similar effect on you, to the point where it was easier for whatever possessed you to actually do it once you were worn down enough.”

Well, she wasn’t wrong; it was a valid theory. “Maybe. But… they got to me through  _ my Light _ , Nelan. I don’t understand how that’s possible!”

Ivo darted out from under her hand, as if he would burn her if he stayed within her touch. Despite the logic Nelan presented, it had been a horrible thing that was done to him. That last time had truly been the worst of it, and the tipping point. He’d felt so weak and disoriented, and the white noise in his mind that made it so hard to focus. And the whispers- in the last moment there had been a voice that spoke to him before his vision had faded out completely.

> “_She cannot help you here.”_

“...Ivo, love- you’re shaking.”

Nelan’s voice broke through the cold recollection, and he realized that he was. His shell trembled with recalling the last memory he had before he blacked out; realizing what was happening but realizing too late. He’d been helpless as the dark overwhelmed him. His direct memories of the incident stopped there, the only other thing remaining being the images in his memory core of the interior of the pyramid.

Nelan, looked at him for a moment more, and then laid back down on her cot, laying on her side. She patted a space beside her for him to be. He slowly floated back down to her. Once he was settled, she started to slowly run her fingers along the top points of his shell.

“It was like when Sagira had been in control of me; that same feeling of being… dead.” Ivo managed to say. Back then, Sagira had called him dramatic for the remark, but it was a sort of thing he had never hoped to experience again; being lost and alone in that nothingness. “And it was so easily done. I couldn’t fight it off. I couldn’t do anything. I could feel their shadows closing in on my Light; as if they wanted to snuff me out. Nelan- I know what took me from you.”

“Darkness.” She replied. Her fingers still moving slowly across his shell. It was a slight comfort. “I felt them; I know. The pyramid was having a similar effect on me, but I’m not sure why they went after you and not me.”

“Maybe to cut you off from the Light. I’m your connection to it. I’m at least glad they couldn’t get you, but… but…” His voice started to waver. “What if there’s still a fragment of that darkness in me? What if it happens again? What if-”

Hands were placed around him and he gave a yelp, but he realized it was Nelan; she pulled him close to her chest and he felt a kiss upon his shell. That action alone, for some reason, was enough for him to let out a choked sob. He couldn’t physically cry, just make these useless noises that simulated it, but sometimes he wished he could.

“I-I’m scared.” Ivo’s voice cracked and glitched as he spoke. “I’m so scared, Nelan. Of what the very presence of the pyramid means. Of what your vision means. Of the Darkness taking control of me again and taking me from you. I don’t want to be alone in that nothing; dead to this indifferent universe.”

“It’s okay; I’ve got you.” Nelan said, trying to soothe him. “Ivo- My Ghost, my love- you’re here. You’re alive. The pyramid scares me too; what I saw… what it did to you. I don’t know what any of it means ether, but remember what you said to me before we went back there? I’ll be okay because I’m with you. We’ll be okay.”

He had said that, hadn’t he? So sure that as long as they were together, things would work out. Even in the more dire of situations, they had each other.

Was this any different?

“Nelan...”

“We’ll figure it out.” Her voice dropped to a whisper. “Stay here with me. Rest.”

Ivo closed his eye, trying to calm himself down by focusing on her Light and the beat of her heart; a calm, constant pulsing to accompany the Light that flowed within her. Just focus on her heartbeat, on her Light… so warm…

He felt something resonate with his Light, and he realized it was her; the harmony he was so familiar with. It wasn’t like before, with whatever that Darkness had done to him. With her it was like sunshine- no, a radiance of starlight. He could lose himself in it.

And he did; letting it lull him into rest.

The pyramid- everything about what he had experienced there- frightened him, and like Nelan, he didn’t know what any of it was supposed to mean. Eris had said the pyramid was some remnant of those responsible for the Collapse; the Darkness. Ivo was sure that’s what had him when they were there. To that extent he feared for his Guardian too.

But she was right. They were both safe and alive. The Darkness wasn’t possessing him, and he was here in the embrace of his Guardian, fallen from the stars so long ago. She was the best Guardian he could have asked for.

He was afraid, but… they’d be alright.


End file.
